Educators are getting to the core of new state standards

This example of a fourth-grade “Problem Solving” question from Smarter Balanced, which is developing the Common Core assessments, focuses on fractions as numbers, asking students to determine in the context of a problem whether there is a whole number that can be multiplied by a given fraction so that the product is between the two consecutive whole numbers.
— Courtesy of Escondido Union School District

This example of a fourth-grade “Problem Solving” question from Smarter Balanced, which is developing the Common Core assessments, focuses on fractions as numbers, asking students to determine in the context of a problem whether there is a whole number that can be multiplied by a given fraction so that the product is between the two consecutive whole numbers.
/ Courtesy of Escondido Union School District

ESCONDIDO  The new “Common Core State Standards” won’t officially start in California schools for another year, but the learning is already under way locally — for students, teachers and parents.

At Escondido’s North Broadway Elementary, students keep math journals that include vocabulary words. The children are writing every day, learning to organize their ideas “so (that) when they go to rough draft, it’s easy, organized,” teacher Katie Taylor said.

Taylor’s examples were part of a Common Core presentation to more than 200 parents and community members last weekWednesday, Feb. 27 at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido.

Common Core, the new national education standards, has been adopted by 48 states. The standards emphasize critical-thinking skills over standard memorization, and are intended to better prepare students for college and the workplace, educators say. Among the “21st century skills” fostered in Common Core are creative thinking, critical analysis, problem solving, oral and written communication, and collaboration.

The way students will be tested will change dramatically, too. No. 2 pencils and Scantron, fill-in-the-bubble forms will be replaced with four types of assessments that rely on technology, explanatory responses and performance tasks. Smarter Balanced is a state-led consortium developing math and language arts assessments for Common Core.

Much of the testing will be conducted on computers. The Escondido district is highly regarded for its use of technology in education. Its students in grades two through eight already take online tests for grade-level evaluations.

With change to education comes anxiousness and questions, said Leila Sackfield, assistant superintendent for educational services. A frequent question is, why is the change needed.

“The world really is becoming much more flat,” Sackfield said. “Our children will be competing in the global workplace. Students are unprepared,” she added, citing evidence in a book titled “Closing the Global Achievement Gap” by Tony Wagner.

“We are going to be focusing on skills that translate across a lifetime,” Sackfield said.

The goal of Common Core, she told the forum, is to ensure that every child is college- and career-ready.

The instruction and assessment focus heavily on problem solving and strategy.

For example, in math, the answer must be accompanied by the strategy the student used to solve the problem — they will have to explain how they reached their conclusion.

Teacher David Harris on Wednesday gave parents a sample question in which they had to determine the best way to use 20 meters of fencing material to create a rectangular dog yard.

Professional development for teachers is crucial for the Common Core launch, officials said. “We’ve been paving the way the last three years through project-based summer school,” Sackfield said.

So far, all students in kindergarten through fifth grade have been practicing writing with Common Core prompts, with informational, opinion, and narrative writing assignments.

Escondido Union isn’t alone in preparing for Common Core. Poway Unified School District officials said Common Core is an opportunity to “prepare all students for the critical thinking, collaboration and creativity that are required for a successful transition to postsecondary education and the 21st-century work force,” said Noreen Walton, a Learning Support Services director.

This year, Poway principals and teachers have been working to understand the standards and the effects they will have on current teaching practices and evaluating what changes are needed.

“Our goal is to have teachers and administrators informed and ready to respond to parents’ questions” this fall, when parent outreach begins, Walton said.

As in Escondido, Poway educators have begun to apply Common Core principles in writing lessons. Teachers have received training in writing questions for nonfiction articles children will read, for example, Walton said.